Mali's reputation as a beacon of democracy and stability in west Africa was extinguished late on Wednesday night, when a group of young army officers stormed the presidential palace in the capital Bamako and announced that they were suspending the constitution and taking power. On Thursday morning, the leader of the putsch, Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, went on state TV to declare a curfew and call a halt to widespread looting, in a voice so hoarse as to be almost inaudible.
This military coup was born out of the deep anger at the way in which the ousted president, Amadou Toumani Touré, had been conducting the war against a Tuareg-led insurgency in the north of the country. Stories of soldiers being sent to the front without the necessary weaponry and almost starving to death out in the vastness of the Sahara, a place as alien and distant to them as Siberia is to a Muscovite, had turned public opinion against him.
Popular anger was exacerbated by a series of ignominious defeats in recent weeks, especially the loss of a crucial strategic base near the desert town of Tessalit that gave the insurgents complete control of most of the north of the country, bar the major towns of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. These feelings of shame and anger were especially acute among the military families living near the main army barracks in Kati near Bamako, where the mutiny began.
Nonetheless most Malians are baffled by the decision of Sanogo and his men to seize power only weeks before presidential elections at which Touré, who was coming to the end of his second term in office, had promised to step down. This abortion of the democratic process will rob the Malian government of its democratic legitimacy and hence the support of many influential international partners, including the US, France, the EU and the African Union.
The international community had long been prepared to back the Touré regime despite the numerous accusations of corruption, involvement in cocaine smuggling and lack of resolve in its fight against Islamic terrorism that had dogged it in the last few years, simply because Mali was seen as one of those rare African democracies that seemed to function more or less "properly". Bamako was seen as a safe city where culture and tourism flourished. That glow of legitimacy and welcome has disappeared overnight.
Most Malians are also wondering who this hitherto unknown Sanogo really is and who's backing him. The cynical view has long been that France retains ultimate control over the political life of its former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa thanks to the close ties between the French army and the military establishments of countries like Mali, Niger and Senegal. However, since Sanogo and his co-conspirators come from such lowly rungs of the Malian military ladder, it's very possible that France had no prior knowledge of this coup and that it should be taken at face value as a spontaneous act born out of unbearable anger and frustration.
Meanwhile the Tuareg rebels in the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (NMLA) are preparing for their "final push" on the last bastions of Malian power in the northern deserts. Only hours after the military coup on Thursday morning, an NMLA spokesperson declared that it intended to exploit the confusion in Bamako by launching new attacks and grabbing more territory.
If the NMLA succeeds in its declared aim of winning independence, Mali faces the prospect of losing over half its territory along with the immense oil and mineral wealth that lie under the desert sands. Sanogo and his demoralised fellow soldiers have plunged a once proud African democracy back into the darkness of military dictatorship in order to try and avoid that nightmare scenario. It's a gamble of historic proportions.
Comments
23 March 2012 9:44AM
And so the backlash of the Libyan Civil War begins to reverberate around North Africa, just as how NATO would have wanted.
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Share23 March 2012 10:02AM
A few weeks ago children assembled to ask the government about their parents who were fighting against the so called "Tuaregs who want their own country."
Violent means were used to disperse the children.
Now here is a thing the UN peace soldiers who are as guilty as Museveni /Kony of raping children, mothers fathers, brothers, sisters, and orphans, relatives, neighbours, friends..., in DRC and who knows where else.
Here is another thing, the UN and "allies" are to vaccinate 111-114million children in Africa against polio, in 4days. 4days! 4days! Why the rush and why is this exercise being carried when the lack of evidence for polio epidemic is glaring.
Richard Dowden, of the Royal African society, has pointed that Kony/Museveni's practices for the militarization of children came out of a British Military training manual. The question is who wrote that manual?
Did the progenitors of the manual which trains the military to perpetuate such horrific crimes against children, against all of humanity arise from the UN or the Vatican (child abuse has been rampant there too),or another entity that now needs to be exposed?
If you can answer these questions before castigating the Malian soldiers who might have seized power to protect their people, then the cure is at hand!
That said I'm waiting for the Malian soldiers to show the ultimate proof of their commitment to defend their children, to defend their people, to defend their country - arm every man and every woman. Should this be done, the battles might continue but, the war will have been won! Show us the proof....
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Share23 March 2012 10:08AM
I don't follow. Why is instability in Mali and the possible breakaway of half the country 'just what NATO would have wanted'?
Was the Malian government a threat to NATO somehow?
How does it benefit NATO to have two unknown quantities (the Tuareg separatists and the new military junta) replace a known quantity?
Why are the events in Mali 'just what NATO would have wanted' rather than perhaps 'just what NATO should have been careful of'?
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Share23 March 2012 10:11AM
Well to be fair its only right for his soldiers to be angry, he seems to be incompetant to the point of not sending his army essential provisions and effectivley gambling with their lives.
It would be foolish for us to withdraw our support until the war is either won or lost, and take action depending on what this coup does then.
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Share23 March 2012 11:42AM
I may be wrong on this but I assumed it was sarcasm
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Share23 March 2012 11:44AM
Is a Tuareg country realistic and viable?
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Share23 March 2012 11:45AM
No, this unfortunately-named poster is an Assadist/Gadaffist.
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Share23 March 2012 12:30PM
Those Tuareg fighters were former Gaddhafi soldiers weren't they? Didn't they get their arms and training from the Libyan conflict? If so then how is what is happening in Mali not a form of 'blowback' as I recall didn't a BBC radio4 reporter say that the experience and weaponry gain in Libya helped the Tuareg route the Malian army?
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Share23 March 2012 1:49PM
Because NATO is evil, like all organisations which come from the West, and only wants evil things to happen to the good, moral African governments which run the continent.
Poor old Mali: a former coloniser and empire, built by great leaders like Musa Mansa who brought us the University of Sankore and the wonders of Timbuktu. Seems like things haven't really developed since then
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Share23 March 2012 1:57PM
more of that sarcasm i've heard so much about?
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Share23 March 2012 1:58PM
Mali's experience shows that democracy in Africa only works when it is backed by strong leadership- people forget that most African countries until recently were ruled by military forces which still remain strong- if elected democrats are unable to deal with problems, there will always be a strong armed forces waiting in the background to take over- it has already happened in Guinea-Bissau, French Guinea and now Mali- other countries will not be far behind. The reality is that the goal of democracy is still a pipe dream in an Africa where the majority of the people are illiterate, have no economic power and lack basic access to health, education, clean water and gender equality
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Share23 March 2012 2:00PM
The Tuaregs now? Not chaps you want to mess with lightly.
Has the world gone mad?
Or are we all finally getting to the point where the greedy fools have gone too far and we've all taken just about as much as we're going to?
You can count on the fingers of one hand probably those who want Communism, most want something right there in the middle between all the extremes, and the neo-cons are as extreme in their own way as any bunch of dictatorial tyrants any of us have ever faced in the long history of the human race.
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Share23 March 2012 2:02PM
What else is there with people completely entrenched in those sorts of views?
The second bit wasn't sarcasm. Pathos maybe!
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Share23 March 2012 2:04PM
I wasn't referring to the second part, naturally.
Sublime it was.
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Share23 March 2012 2:09PM
You're catching on with the sarcasm thing then. Fast learner
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Share23 March 2012 2:12PM
I misread the title and thought this was another rant about The Paper The Guardian Loves To Hate.
As you were.
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Share23 March 2012 3:25PM
More opportunities for our arms sales. Don't worry lot's of Western countries will help you, and your opponents. You haven't got any oil or somesuch have you?
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Share23 March 2012 4:45PM
`And so the backlash of the Libyan Civil War begins to reverberate around North Africa, just how NATO would have wanted.`
Spot on Patrice, many of the Taureg rebels were in the employ of Gaddafi until the "humanitarian intervention" which NATO prosecuted last year leaving 50,000 dead. The author of this article seems to be suffering from selective omission syndrome. As ever NATO causes more problems than it solves with its heavy reliance on bombs and bullets. No winners here except for the arms industry.
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Share23 March 2012 4:45PM
The territory of the Tuaregs coincides with that of the Al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM), conveniently enough for lazy journalists to conflate their interests. AQIM is receiving weapons from its allies, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LFIG). The LFIG are the militant Islamists backed by the west to oust former ally of the west in the Global War on Terror, Gaddhafi.
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Share23 March 2012 5:09PM
Probably not. It should fit in nicely with the rest of Africa's unnatural countries.
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Share23 March 2012 5:56PM
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23 March 2012 6:43PM
Got proof that there is part of a worldwide caliphate plan or should I put that in the bullshit folder along with the Loch Ness Monster?
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Share23 March 2012 10:15PM
This takes me back to the 1990s when I lived in Bamako. Malians were experimenting with democracy after years of dictatorship. I happened to read Hobsbawm’s The Age of Extremes, where he explored the resilience of democracy in Europe between the two world wars. He framed his analysis within four factors which were necessary for democratic resilience:
Wealth Mali was very poor then, and remains so. GDP per capita is around $1200 at PPP. The Gini score was 50 in 1994 and has improved to 40 today. Using Hobsbawm’s assumption you need to be somewhat comfortably off as a nation, to have a resilient democracy, Mali still seems vulnerable.
Tolerance In a resilient democracy, people in the minority must accept it when their political choices are superseded – through elections – by those of the majority. The majority must accept that its candidate must govern in the interests of all. This always seemed difficult in the 1990s, when I wondered how people could have this sense of “adherence” without being brought up in a democracy. Now, many Malians have several years of democracy under their belt, and have been fairly well-led by presidents willing to relinquish office. There is a genuine sense of mutual tolerance in society – except perhaps in and vis-a-vis the north. Perhaps therefore on this criterion of tolerance, Mali scored higher than I thought in the 1990s, and higher still today. But the fly in the ointment is the north, where actual or potential insurgency has always been a feature of Mali’s history, dealt with outside democratic politics, through military action and short-term deals which have disrupted democracy.
Decentralisation For Hobsbawm, democracy is more resilient in a decentralised polity, where the central executive has less to do, and can therefore be held to account more effectively. In this respect Mali probably scores well, as the country is governed quite locally, and the national government has limited means with which to interfere. Civil society in Mali is so strong, one can almost reach out and touch the web of interlocking relationships. Mali is rich in social capital.
Identifying with the nation And so to Hobsbawm’s final criterion: that people should identify themselves as Malians above all. I am not sure if most Malians would declare themselves Malians first and foremost; ethnic identity remains very strong in what is a diverse patchwork of tribes, castes, etc. Nevertheless I always felt in the 1990s, and this is still true today, that mutual tolerance is one of Mali’s strongest qualities with regards the resilience of democracy. There is a genuine historical sense that Mali exists as a natural nation, rather than simply as a creation of European colonists. The north, of course, is the part of Mali where this rings less true.
Looking at these four criteria, one might suggest that Mali scores one out of three for wealth, and two out of three each for tolerance, decentralisation and national identity. Thus – from Hobsbawm’s structuralist perspective – there is every chance that the apparent coup will be reversed and progress towards democracy resumed.
The difficulty is the north, where many see Mali as another country, a distant state which consistently fails them, and to which they therefore do not feel allegiance. It is a vicious spiral. The “northern problem” is too seldom viewed in terms of improving the sense of citizenship among people in the north. Malians from the south, their government and its foreign backers too often see the north in terms of insecurity, terrorism, international drug smuggling, innate backwardness and as a set of problems which are somehow not “Malian” but “northern”. Policy is designed instrumentally to resolve “northern” issues as though they were not “Malian” issues; and while perhaps providing a temporary solution to the problem, thus reinforces the separation of northern people from the state and from their fellow Malians further south.
I hope the coup will be reversed. Mali deserves to continue the progress towards democracy which started with the courageous citizen uprising of 1991. The mutineers appear to be motivated by the lack of resources provided to the army in its fight against northern rebels who have consistently beaten and humiliated them. This rebellion is a symptom of underlying stresses which are testing the resilience of democracy. But the deal which will be done with the mutineers to persuade them to back off and hand power back to ATT must not be based simply on giving them the firepower to beat the rebels: what’s needed is a long-term process of nation building bringing all Malians into a responsible and responsive relationship with the state and with each other. Otherwise the “northern problem” will continue to undermine democracy and will reduce the degree to which Mali – taken as a whole – scores highly against Hobsbawm’s four criteria of democratic resilience.
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Share24 March 2012 8:29PM
The stupidest coup in the history of all Coup D'etats of the World!
There are many dictatorships across Africa, if not the world. Why does this has to happen in Mali where there has been a functioning democracy? In a country where the the leader clearly said he doesn't want to run for presidency and there is elections already planned in three weeks? I do not see point - democracy is there already to address misrule and incompetence! Just because you are holding a gun, you think you can and should rule??? Even in a democracy, there could be misrule and that is why we have elections.
Another thing baffling me is how can a country as big and as vast as Mali has an army of only 7,000? Is that a joke? That is only 6 or 7 battalions. I mean look at Eritrea with its tiny size - it has 300,000 to 500,000 soldiers. Not a very good example but just for reference. The soldiers may have a point but their action is aggravating the situation and helping the rebels to take advantage even more.
NATO and particularly the French have the responsibility to bring order to Mali. This is the direct flow-over from their picnic in Libya, and the African Union and also Mali have opposed this picnic. We do not want another war in Africa. Western picnic caused it and they should fix it!
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Share25 March 2012 6:35PM
The Guardian says
You’re not kidding. We are being told total nonsense.
The idea that there would be an army coup because of government ‘incompetence’ (we’re supposed to believe all African governments are incompetent) and a conflict that the army are in charge of beggars belief.
Are we really supposed to believe that a group of officers would carry out a coup that would be opposed by the US and EU? After what the West has done in the Ivory Coast, and Libya, do they think they would get away with a coup the West didn’t approve of? Are they anti-imperialists, or something?
Now the army have taken over, what exactly are they doing about the Tuareg? They don't seem that bothered now.
Hundreds of people in the capital risked being shot at, beaten and arrested because of a conflict hundreds of miles away? Are we supposed to believe this?
Touregs are regarded by the Mali Army as Islamists. Why would Ghaddifi use Islamists who were the people leading the rebellion against him?
This coup story is the biggest load of nonsense in a long time.
We have not got to work out what is really going on. Who is supporting the coup leaders?
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